Ex-Chelsea midfielder, John Obi Mikel, has claimed erstwhile Super Eagles head coach Sunday Oliseh was one of the worst coaches he worked with during his career.
Oliseh was appointed as Nigeria’s national team boss in 2016, but was shown the exit doors just months into his stay.
Interestingly, Oliseh’s reign was filled with controversy, as he clashed with the number one goalkeeper at the time, Vincent Enyeama, who eventually retired abruptly.
Mikel, speaking on his ObiOne podcast, recounted how Oliseh caused upheaval in the Eagles’ camp on his first day.
He said: “I remember the first day he came into the camp. Then we reported to the camp for International duties, then he came straight at me and Vincent Enyeama, the goalkeeper, who also was very powerful back then.
“He came straight at us and Elderson Echiejile, and he said a few things. He said he heard there was a lot of player power with us.
“Then Enyeama was like, ‘What’s wrong with you? Where are you getting all of these from? We are a nice group, and you just come in, and the first thing is to attack us?
“He was like ‘I heard about you guys.’ And then Enyeama stood up and told him he couldn’t say that because we had been here for so many years. They started arguing, and literally, they were going to have a fight.
“He took Enyeama out of the team, and he came at us saying he was going to take us out of the team. He said he was going to take us out of the team; he said he was going to make sure we didn’t play anymore.”
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“Enyeama could not take it, and despite my pleas, he left the camp angrily and never came back.”
Obi said, “He (Oliseh) had absolutely no clue of how a manager is. He was a fantastic guy in his playing days, but as a coach, he was very terrible. He had no clue what he was doing.
“The players never understood anything he was doing, and he did not know what he was doing. He was just confused because he just came in and destroyed the team’s togetherness.
“His excuse when he got fired was that the people and FA did voodoo on him not to succeed. He was easily the worst manager I played under.
“He was so bitter with everybody, jealous with everybody, and had no respect for speaking to anybody, whether the physio or anybody,” he added.
After the Super Eagles job, Oliseh worked at Dutch side Fortuna Sittard and German fifth-tier side SV Straelen. He has not gotten a new team since 2022.
